


Something to Fight For

by MissAllySwan



Category: Manifest (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cancer, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Eventual Romance, F/M, One Shot, POV First Person, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23924551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissAllySwan/pseuds/MissAllySwan
Summary: Zeke is a cancer patient who has given up. Until he meets a nurse that gives him something to fight for. One-Shot.
Relationships: Zeke Landon/Michaela Stone
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Something to Fight For

Disclaimer: I do not own Manifest or any of its characters. Anything you may recognize belongs to NBC.

* * *

Zeke's POV

The first time it happened, I couldn't believe it. And it seemed so unexpected, though I suppose it always is. I remember feeling exhausted all the time. I thought it had been the stress or just regular exhaustion. I had been working extra hours at work at the time so I didn't think anything of it. I just let it go on for weeks until I ended up getting into a car accident. Rotten luck right? Though the doctors essentially said the car accident likely saved my life; talk about an irony. _"You have leukemia."_ I had blood tests because the doctors were concerned by the symptoms I had been exhibiting before the car accident. I reluctantly allowed them to do it because I didn't think there would be anything there; but I was wrong. They said I was lucky because it was treatable with it still being in the early stages. Though they had to be aggressive.

After I found out, I had to go on medical leave from work knowing that treatments would only make it harder. But without work, I knew affording the treatments was going to be tricky on top of paying my rent. I had hoped my girlfriend would have helped, or at least been sympathetic; again I was wrong. The next morning, Courtney broke up with me. I knew I only had one other option. I hadn't spoken to my mother in a long time. She had been struggling since my sister Chloe's death; we both had.

" _Why are you here?" Mom asked._

" _I'm dying." I came right out with it. "I have leukemia."_

I was expecting to be turned away, considering I had left her alone when she needed me the most. She had already been abandoned by dad; me leaving didn't help. But she couldn't bare the thought of losing another child and she promised not to leave my side; and she didn't. Mom was there throughout all the chemo and radiation treatments. She even offered to donate some bone marrow if she was a match. She was there when I spent days in bed throwing up. We ended making up for lost time which in a way made the agony I was in worth it.

Eventually, I got the results I had been hoping for: I was in remission. Mom was thrilled and I was so happy and relieved. For brief moment, I thought about getting my life back, but then I realized that I didn't really have a life to get back to.

* * *

A few years past since I went into remission. It had been a few good years, up until mom died. Then my life returned to how it was before the cancer; it wasn't much of a life. I just went to work and sometimes I'll get a drink or two after work. I've met a few girls at the bar but it doesn't go much of anywhere. It did the same thing until I started to feel sick. And after it didn't go away after a week, I had suspicions, ones that I hoped were wrong; but this time I wasn't.

"Your cancer's back."

They told me similar things that it was treatable. It would be a bit more difficult this time around because it had spread, but it was still treatable. "And if it goes in remission again, will it come back?" I asked. Was it crazy to think that this wouldn't repeat again if I managed to get it in remission again? They couldn't give me an answer on that.

"Our concern is getting on a treatment as soon as possible. We need to get on top of this, so we can get you back in remission."

"No." The doctor was taken aback at my decision. And he tried to make me think about it, take a few days. He attempted to convince me it was in my best interest to get the treatment but I didn't see why. What was the point?

"I'm going to have a nurse take some blood from you. I really think you should think about this." The doctor left me for a moment and a nurse came in. I looked at her, unable to take my eyes off her. She had long blonde hair and these piercing blue eyes. When she noticed I seemed to staring, I looked away. Though I knew it was probably too late to hide it.

"I'm Michaela." She greeted me.

"Zeke." I told her. "What is the point of this? Why are you taking my blood?"

"So we can see what your best treatment options are." Michaela explained. "Make a fist."

"I don't see why." I made a fist for her anyways. She then tied a band around my arm and found a vein. "I told them I don't want treatment." She looked at me, surprised at hearing that. "I just don't see the point if it's just going to come back."

"You don't know that." Michaela inserted the needle.

"My life's not worth much." I shrugged.

"I think it is." Michaela told me. We locked eye contact for a few moments as the tubes filled with my blood. "You shouldn't give up." She added as she removed the needle once the tubes finished filling up. She taped a cotton ball over the puncture spot. "You need to find something to fight for. Surely it's there." She offered me a kind smile as she then left me alone. I didn't want her to go but I knew I couldn't stop her from leaving.

I went home after that and I couldn't get her out of my mind. I just couldn't get those eyes and that smile out of my head. I saw it when closed my eyes and I remembered hearing what she had said to me. It wasn't much but I couldn't get those words out of my head; I couldn't get her out of my head. These feelings felt foreign to me. I had never felt this way about anyone, let alone someone I had just met; and she had just been a nurse. All she did was draw my blood and I somehow feel drawn to her.

* * *

I went back to the hospital a few days later. I saw Michaela at the nurse's station and she seemed to recognize me. "You're back."

"I'm going to get treatment." I told her.

"What changed your mind?" She asked.

"You." I admitted. _I had found something to fight for and it was her._

**Author's Note:**

> I can't be the only one that ships Michaela and Zeke, right? I also like Jared and Michaela but i really like Zekaela. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts!


End file.
